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The Foley Flame: Illuminating Updates
September 2025
| | Picture credit: the Dalili family | | Shahab Dalili is a legal permanent resident of the United States. He had just retired from a career as a ship captain, when, in 2016, his father passed away in Iran. Mr. Dalili returned to Iran for the funeral. On his way to the airport to return to his home in Virginia, he was pulled from his taxi by agents working for the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. Mr. Dalili’s family did not know where he was for several days. Eventually, they learned he was detained, accused of cooperating with a hostile government, i.e., the United States. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and has been held in the infamous Evin Prison ever since. | Despite being unjustly held for over nine years, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s finding that his detention is arbitrary, Mr. Dalili has not been designated as wrongfully detained by a U.S. Secretary of State. Furthermore, when the U.S. government brokered a deal in 2023 that brought home a group of five Americans wrongfully detained in Iran, Mr. Dalili was not included among them. The Iranians refused to let him go. | Time is not on Mr. Dalili’s side. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch noted Iran has increased its execution of prisoners, noting political prisoners are at significant risk. Furthermore, since the “12 Day War” between Israel and Iran—which also included a strike by the U.S.—earlier this year, the situation for individuals wrongfully detained in Iran has become more dangerous. At one point during that conflict, Evin Prison was bombed. | | |
The Foley Foundation is tracking at least five cases of U.S. nationals being wrongfully detained in Iran, including Mr. Dalili. There are likely more unreported cases. The U.S. Department of State has increased its messaging around the dangers of traveling to Iran. Talks between the U.S. and Iran also appear to have cooled off since the recent conflict.
In its engagement with Iran, the Trump administration should be clear that the best way to improve the bilateral relationship is to immediately release Mr. Dalili, and the other Americans unjustly held in Iran.
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On September 18, the Foley Foundation will host a webinar to release the 2025 edition of its Assessment of U.S. Hostage Policy and Family Engagement, the latest research report in the Bringing Americans Home series. The report—released that same day on the foundation’s website—captures the experiences of dozens of family members of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.
Through confidential interviews with these families, federal officials, and third-party subject matter experts, Foley Foundation Director of Research and Hostage Advocacy Liz Richards has developed key insights to help shape the evolution of U.S. hostage policy and ensure the needs of hostage families are met.
Guest speakers will include high-level government officials, members of Congress, the head of a third-party hostage negotiator, and the spouse of a former wrongful detainee. Veteran journalist Peter Bergen will moderate a panel discussion of the report’s implications.
| | Note: the 2025 report will be available on September 18th | | 10 Americans Released from Venezuela | | Recently the Trump administration secured the release of 10 U.S. nationals being held in Venezuela. This was achieved through a prisoner swap of more than 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. had sent to be imprisoned in El Salvador. | | The Foley Foundation worked with several of the families of these wrongfully detainees, including Jorge Marcelo Vargas, Lucas Hunter, Wilbert Joseph Castaneda, and Lorenzo Yasir Huamanchumo Castillo. Their families were also actively engaged as members of the Bring Our Families Home campaign, Fole Foundation’s family-led public advocacy arm. | | We are excited to welcome Dr. Lauren Walsh, director of the Gallatin Photojournalism Intensive at New York University, as the Foley Foundation’s new Managing Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives. Walsh will lead the creation and implementation of a journalist safety toolkit alongside Safety Education Director Dr. Tom Durkin. | | Foley Foundation Welcomes First Director of Development | | On August 25, following a months-long national search involving staff, advisors, and the Board of Directors, the Foley Foundation welcomed Salma Nabi as its first Director of Development. This new role marks a pivotal step in the Foundation’s growth and long-term sustainability. | Ms. Nabi brings a decade of nonprofit leadership experience, including serving as Chief of Staff to the President of Reach University and holding senior roles at Teach For America—an organization of which James Foley was a proud alumnus. | | 2026 Foley Freedom Awardees Announced | | The Foley Foundation’s Board of Directors recently announced the selection of four outstanding leaders and individuals of moral courage as recipients of the 2026 James W. Foley Freedom Awards. | | |
Humanitarian Award – Bar Ben Yaakov and Matan Sivek
Co-Founders and Co-Chairs of the Hostage Families Forum US, based in Washington, DC, Bar and Matan have provided critical support to the victims of the October 7, 2023, hostage-taking by Hamas. The Forum advocates for the release of all remaining hostages—living or deceased—still held in Gaza.
| Picture credit: Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |
Hostage Freedom Award – His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, Qatari Minister of State
Dr. Al-Khulaifi has served as a key intermediary in the release of dozens of Americans held hostage abroad. His efforts have enabled dialogue and negotiation in cases where formal diplomatic relations between the captor and the United States do not exist or are severely limited.
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World Press Freedom Award – Alsu Kurmasheva and Pavel Butorin
Both journalists with Radio Free Europe, Alsu and Pavel have been tireless advocates for press freedom. Alsu was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly 400 days before her release in a complex multinational prisoner exchange on August 1, 2024. Together, they continue to shine a light on the many journalists wrongfully or arbitrarily detained by foreign governments or their own governments.
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Robert A. Levinson Excellence in Government Service Award -- Dustin Stewart, Acting Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs
The family of Robert Levinson and the Foley Foundation’s Board of Directors jointly announced the recipient of the Robert A. Levinson Excellence in Government Service Award: Dustin Stewart, Acting Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Dustin has had a distinguished career in public service, including assignments at the National Security Council, where he focused on international security, hostage recovery, and crisis response.
| | The 2026 Foley Freedom Awards will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on May 5, 2026. | | |
September 15-18, 2025
MediaFest 25
Safety Education Director Dr. Tom Durkin, and this semester’s Marquette Foley Fellow, Ruby Mulvaney, will participate in a panel discussion in MediaFest 25, the nation’s largest media convention for pros and college students, in Washinton, D.C. They will be focusing on the safety education needs of student journalists.
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September 17, 2025
Moral Courage Speaker Series
The Friends of Jim Society is hosting its inaugural Moral Courage Speakers’ Series event on Wednesday, September 17th in New York City. Bill Ryan, a close friend of Jim Foley, will moderate a discussion with Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing (a Hulu series), Empire of Pain, and the upcoming London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth. Space is limited! Register today.
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September 18, 2025
the Foley Foundation will host a webinar to release the 2025 edition of its Assessment of U.S. Hostage Policy and Family Engagement, the latest research report in the Bringing Americans Home series.
Please see article near the top of this newsletter for details.
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September 20, 2025
Armed Only with a Camera
Director of Journalist Safety Initiatives Lauren Walsh and Safety Education Director Tom Durkin will participate in a panel discussion in New York following a September 20 screening of the documentary, Armed Only with a Camera, about photojournalist Brent Renaud who was killed while covering the war in Ukraine.
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October 2025
James W. Foley Freedom Run
In its 11th year, the Freedom Run/Walk 5K is will be held at the James W. Foley Community Center in Rochester, NH on October 18 and at Anacostia Park in Washington, DC on October 25 with the option to participate virtually from anywhere else! Sign up today!
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October 26, 2025
Marine Corps Marathon
For the second year in a row, and to celebrate the Marine Corps Marathon’s 50th anniversary, the Foley Foundation is proud to participate in the marathon by sponsoring five dedicated runners who will #RunForJim to promote journalist safety and advocate for American hostages and wrongful detainees.
| | WHERE IN THE WORLD IS DIANE | | Foley Foundation President and Founder Diane Foley is passionate about spreading the Foley Foundation message of moral courage to the world. Lately, her focus has been in Italy where she has been invited to participate in several events. | | |
In the last week of August, Rimini becomes the capital of international culture and is overrun by 'the Meeting people,' as defined by the media: curious, open-minded, discerning individuals from all over the world who gather for this event, which has been taking place since the early 1980s. This year, over 100,000 people attended in person, with many more hundreds of thousands taking part online.
Diane was invited to participate in a session titled, "The Courage to Forgive. A Mother." a moderated discussion and presentation of the Italian language version of her book, American Mother.
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Interview in the Vatican and Audience with Pope Leo XIV
After the Rimini Meeting, Diane was interviewed by the official Vatican News site and had a private audience with Pople Leo XIV
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2025 Jubilee Year for the Catholic Church
A Jubilee is a year-long celebration of the Catholic Church that occurs every 25 years. Diane has been invited to participate in several of this Jubilee year’s events.
On September 15, Diane will be in Rome to give witness of her journey after Jim's death as part of the “Jubilee of Consolation,” the main event programmed for that day at which the Pope will participate.
Then, during early October, Diane will speak in Verona, Italy, at the invitation of Bishop Domenico Pompili. She’ll also speak later in Turin during the “Festival della Missione” event in that city.
| | FOLEY FOUNDATION IN THE NEWS | |
Elizabeth Richards, Foley Foundation's Director of Hostage Advocacy & Research, was interviewed by Scripps News for story entitled "Iran's detention of Americans highlights 'hostage diplomacy' after recent U.S. military strikes"
| | For more news media stories about the Foley Foundation please visit our Media Center. | | |
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